Dr. Michael Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga Jr. (CON) was born in 1953, in the ancient city of Ibadan, into the family of Chief Mike Adenuga Snr., a school teacher and Madam Oyindamola Adenuga, a successful trader and Yeyeoba of Ijebuland. Adenuga is a native of Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State of Nigeria.

The young Adenuga attended the famous Ibadan Grammar School, in Oyo State, Nigeria, for his secondary education and studied Business Administration at Northwestern State University, Alva Oklahoma in the United States. He also earned a Masters degree at Pace University, New York, majoring in Business Administration with emphasis on Marketing. In recognition of his business accomplishments and outstanding contributions to the growth of the country, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the Ogun State University.

The Oloye Adenuga's father Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr. was a school teacher, his mother Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo) a businesswoman of royal Ijebu descent. A man with humble beginnings, he received his secondary school education at the Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan . He worked as a taxi driver to fund his education while studying at University. He eventually graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University, New York with degrees in Business Administration.

CAREER AND LIFE

In 1990, he received a drilling license and in 1991, his Consolidated Oil struck oil in the shallow waters of Southwestern Ondo State, the first indigenous oil company to do so in commercial quantity. He was issued a conditional GSM licence in 1999; after it was revoked he received a second one when the government held another auction in 2003. His telecom company Globacom spread quickly and started challenging the giant MTN Group. It launched services in the Republic of Benin in 2008, and has continued its spread across Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, with more licences currently being prospected in other West African countries. He was named African Entrepreneur of The Year at the maiden African Telecoms Awards (ATA) on 15 August 2007. In 2009, Adenuga was detained for money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Adenuga left the country and lived in London until the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua regime granted him a pardon. In 2012 he was made Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (Nigeria).
In May, 2015 Adenuga made a takeover bid to purchase Ivorian mobile telecom's operator Comium Cote d'Ivoire for $600 million.

He is undoubtedly now one of the most recognisable names on the African continent. Born 59 years ago, Adenuga is a quintessential businessman who has made his mark so distinctly that world leaders speak glowingly about him.

One of the world’s wealthiest men, Dr. Adenuga sits atop what is generally regarded as one of the continent’s largest business empires comprising oil and gas, telecoms, aviation, banking and real estate.

In each of these sectors, Dr. Adenuga has moulded his companies into major, if not dominant, players. In the oil and gas sector, for instance, Conoil Plc is one of the largest and most profitable oil marketing companies in Nigeria. Conoil Producing, the downstream arm of the conglomerate, made history by becoming the first Nigerian company to strike oil and produce it in commercial quantity in 1991. In banking, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) was one of the few banks that effortlessly met the N25b capital requirement during the 2005 banking consolidation exercise without going to the stock market. It only merged with Devcom Bank which was also owned by Adenuga. Last year, ETB merged with Sterling Bank.

In telecoms, Globacom is not only the most innovative network in Nigeria, it also, in its first year of operation, became the fastest growing in Africa and the Middle East, with operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Senegal, Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire. Adenuga also has a multi-billion dollar investment in real estate. These companies provide direct employment to thousands of workers and millions of others indirectly.

His latest achievement has been the laying of an international submarine cable, Glo 1, which has gigantic capacity to Africa directly to Europe and America. The optic fibre cable provides excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to the cable, and has lead to a much faster and robust connectivity for voice, data and video.

The man Adenuga means different things to different people. A husband, father, team leader, role model, an entrepreneur par excellence! Though he has made giant strides in several business categories, Nigerians would probably remember him more for his timely intervention in the telecommunications arena, where he seems to hold the aces that determine the pace of play. Globacom’s historic introduction of Per Second Billing was the first time any network had launched on the billing platform. His network also pioneered such revolutionary products as Blackberry, vehicle tracking, mobile internet and mobile banking services in Nigeria. When the history of telecommunications industry in Africa is written, Adenuga surely would earn a chapter as a man who disrupted an oligarchic convention for the benefit of mankind.

He was honoured by the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the National Awards of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) and later with the award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). During Nigeria’ 50th anniversary celebration, Adenuga was one of the 50 pre-eminent Nigerians who were conferred with the Special Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary Awards by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Adenuga’s nomination was as a result of his immense contributions to the growth of oil and gas, banking and the telecoms industries in the country. Checks showed that Adenuga merited the special award due to the great sacrifice he made to ensure the re-invention of the country’s telecoms industry.

An astute world-class business expert, with worldwide business interests, Dr. Adenuga is a highly respected entrepreneur and one of the biggest employers of labour in the country. In the last two decades, he has established a pedigree as a well focussed and prudent manager of men and resources with the uncanny ability to successfully transform ideas and dormant businesses to highly viable enterprises.

Dr. Adenuga Jr. has always been in the news on account of several patriotic initiatives. Globacom is the biggest supporter of football in Africa and has raised the profile of football in Nigeria and Ghana with the sponsorship of the Premier Leagues and national football teams of the two countries. The company has so far spent over N6 billion on Nigerian football. It has also transformed the annual CAF Awards and made it the most glamorous sports event on the continent.

CAF has awarded Adenuga, the Pillar of Football in Africa for his strong support for African Football at both national and continental levels. At the 2nd edition of the Glo-CAF Awards held in Ghana, former President John Kufour declared Adenuga Africa’s No.1 Businessman for his promotion of the continent through his business empire.

Dr Adenuga has won numerous awards in recognition of his personal and business accomplishments among which is the African Telecoms Entrepreneur of the year for his courageous and rapid investment in the telecoms sector. He was early 2010 voted Nigeria’s Most Outstanding Business Personality in the last 50 years. In an online poll conducted by This Day, he polled 4272 votes to edge out the Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote who scored 4156. Founder of Diamond Bank, Mr Pascal Dozie, polled 3316, Olorogun Michael Ibru got 3073 while the Chairman, First City Monument Bank, Otunba Subomi Balogun polled 2801.

In 2009, Dr. Adenuga won the coveted Silverbird Man of the Year Award, polling over 75% of the votes cast to edge out other eminent personalities such as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Foreign Affairs Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, and the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, among others. The annual award is facilitated by Silverbird Communications, owners of Silverbird TV and Rhythm 93.7 FM. Similarly, several other media organisations have also honoured the Globacom Chairman with their Man of the Year Award within the last few years.
In spite of his towering achievements, he remains an epitome of modesty.

EXCLUSIVE FACTS ABOUT MIKE ADENUGA culled from: iyaniwura.com

-Although his roots are in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, he was born in Ibadan, Oyo State on 29thApril, 1953. The Bull will turn 60 in about two months when his 682-paged biography Mike Adenuga: African Business Guru (written by award-winning Mike Awoyinfa & Dimgba Igwe) will be launched. Mike Adenuga was so big at birth that he was called John Bull in the hospital.

-His parents: Chief Michael Agbolade Adenuga Snr. was a school teacher while his mum Chief (Mrs.) Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (nee Onashile of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo) was a businesswoman. She got married at the age of 17, learnt sewing and succeeded greatly as a dressmaker. Well-educated, she was made the Iya Alaje of Ijebu-Igbo and the Yeye Oba of Ijebuland.

-He studied at the Ibadan Grammar School (IGS) before jetting out to the US to read Business Administration with a focus on Marketing. While at Ibadan, he was very impressed with the Cocoa House (then the tallest building in Africa) built by the Awolowo government. He dreamt of having such an edifice of his own one day, and today, we all know Mike Adenuga Towers. Located on Adeola Odeku Street, the 13-storey edifice which took him 13 years to erect dazzles with gold-on-granite finishing. You just can't miss it! The first time I saw his building, I was mesmerized. It has a landing pad for a helicopter and was opened in 2004 by Atiku Abubakar. Now, don't ask me if I want to build one too...lol! He also has a mansion in Ibadan and he named it 'The Gold Digger's Place'.

-The billionaire is a descendant of Pariola, a very wealthy and influential female trader born in the mid-19th century. Apart from being the ancestor of the Adenugas, Pariola would also produce the Adetonas, the family of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona.

-Upon his birth, his father was so overjoyed at having another son that he named him after himself. His elder brother, Demola explained that he was not given the name because as at the time of his birth, the fad was to bear purely Nigerian names. Otunba was the last child so his father took the opportunity to name him after himself. He would later die in 1993 in a car accident and his son did a superlative re-burial for him in 2005 with one of the most expensive coffins on earth.

-While at IGS, he and his brother (Demola) were nicknamed 'Ad Belly' for their huge stature and protruding bellies. Both used to cross the Ogunpa River (which they called River Jordan) whenever they felt like sneaking out of school. They took the huge frame after their parents. Demola was more of his dad while Mike took everything, including his business skills, from his mum. As a child, and under the supervision of his mum, he hawked goat feed, and picked up the street wisdom that came with it.

-Although Mike was more fashionable and even introduced his elder brother to the latest wears and perfumes, he still had to seek his help when it came to academic matters.

-His mother had always been quite cautious about the adventurous and somewhat rascally nature of Mike. She really did not want him to go abroad to study & wanted him to join his brother who was studying biochemistry at the University of Ibadan. She reported him to a commissioner of police in Oyo State then but he encouraged Madam Juliana to let him go, perhaps, that was God's plan for him. Worefa, his mind was made up. He was leaving Nigeria. And he left. When he also wanted to dabble into the very risky oil and gas sector and do what no other Nigerian had done before (drill oil), she made her fears known again thinking it was a senseless gamble. He calmed her down, and he would later announce to her excitedly: 'Mama, we found oil!' Today, his Conoil PLC is the largest indigenous oil production company in Nigeria operating six producing oil blocks in addition to owning ¼ of the Nigeria/Sao Tome Joint Development Zone Block 4, which has been proven to have almost one billion barrels of crude oil and about one trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Some people, like Dele Momodu, his mentee, believe Adenuga is actually the richest man in Africa. I must chip in here that in November 2011, 500 pensioners of Conoil engaged Adenuga in a tussle over unpaid pensions. #AneyeToto!

-There is something about Adenuga that caught my attention: he would never disobey his mother. The late matriarch had enormous influence over her son, and the only time he went against her directive was the oil business issue. Friends say that whenever there was any disagreement, just mention his mother's name, and he would mellow down. Such was the degree of tremendous respect he has for his mother. #Iyaniwura.

-While studying in the 1970s, he had to survive and raise his school fees by working as a security man and a taxi driver, an extremely dangerous job for a blackman in the crime-ridden boroughs of New York -Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. His curiosity in Nigeria where a little Mike tugged the steering wheel with drivers amused them, and they taught him how to drive. This, he made use of as a means of survival. If you are thinking he drove those shiny yellow New York cabs, you are wrong. He drove an unregistered jalopy and had to ply areas where the police would not harass him. It was as a taxi driver that he met a man named Dele Giwa, who was also surviving as a cab driver. Giwa would later be blown out of existence in 1986 by Nigeria's first parcel bomb. As a student in America, Adenuga suffered and laboured for months as he was not getting a kobo from home. He knew the consequences, faced the challenges and triumphed. He might not have finished schooling without his extra efforts. Did I tell you that he also worked as a waiter and a mortuary attendant in the US? Yes, he did. And by the time he came back to Nigeria then, he was with a bushy beard. #HustlingThins #IgboroORerin!

-As a student in North Western Oklahoma State University, the school slogan was 'Ride With Pride', and he would later transform it to become 'Glo With Pride', when he launched Globacom.

-After graduating, he headed straight for Naija, and without wasting any time, started utilizing all he learnt. He did not seek any paid employment but took the risky road of entrepreneurship. He took over the management of the family's small sawmill in Ogun State and was also selling removable car stereos at the same time as he had noticed the problem caused by the rampant theft of car stereos. Civil servants awash with the Udoji Commission salary raise were buying cars but thieves would do away with the car stereos. With Adenuga's stereos, people could then park their cars, detach the stereos and go to bed. Simple. And he made cool cash. If you want to make money too, look around you, find a pressing problem and create a much-needed solution.

-By the age of 22, he had delved into the business of commodities, general merchandise, construction, importation (of mainly sawmill equipment, tomato paste, wines, beer and textile materials (especially lace) made in Austria). Why is my mischievous mind thinking that good fabrics and chilled beer are integral components of an Ijebu owambe parry? Anyways, just saying...lol!

-Believe it or not, there was a time when Adenuga was so reclusive that it was nearly impossible for you to see even his picture in the newspapers. He even hired consultants to blank him out of the media and the general public. His daughter, Bella, corroborates this: “My dad has always been a kind of quiet person. It was Globacom that shot him into the limelight.”

-In one of his very rare interviews, he narrates how he met an Austrian businessman to Newswatch: "I went on a trip to New York and when I was coming back, I missed my flight, being on British Airways, so I had to fly Swiss Air and I sat next to the owner of one of the biggest lace manufacturing factories in Austria. So, we were talking and he got me interested in importing laces, and all sorts of things." Okay, you know why Iyaniwura had to point that out to you? Learn to identify and utilize opportunities! Adenuga later reveals: "The secret of my success is hard work, God's blessings and luck."

-By 26, Michael 'Aneye Toto' Ishola was already a millionaire. Now, chill. At this point, some critics will take him up saying that he became fabulously wealthy by benefiting from the close and cosy links he had with Nigerian military dictators. Well, that's not a rumour. Babangida's oil minister, Professor Jubril Aminu came up with a policy to grant licenses to individuals and encourage private sector participation in oil exploration and exploitation. Otunba was one of the first beneficiaries of the Petroleum Act (MKO Abiola of Summit Oil was another). Upon getting his oil bloc prospecting license (OPL 113), Adenuga went straight to work in the South Western Niger Delta Region and in less than a year on 24th December, 1991, he struck oil in the shallow (offshore) waters of Ondo State in his first oil well (named Bella-1) becoming the first indigenous oil firm to do so. Other Nigerians could not take the risk, and had sold off their licences to expatriates. An incorrigible risk taker, he had hired an oil rig for $5 million BUT he recruited only Nigerian oil specialists to do the job (he has always been a patriotic man). Since then, he has never looked back. The first seed money that he used to start business was given to him by his late mum. It was a modest sum but he used it judiciously. #Iyaniwura.

-At a point, he acted as a private middleman who got term-based oil contracts from the Nigerian government in the name of Tradoil & Crownway Enterprises while the UK-based Arcadia would handle the fuel cargoes. He also built military barracks (and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna with Lt. General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade's younger brother, Femi. Akinrinade, a former Chief of Army Staff, was the General Officer Commanding, I Infantry Division, 1975-1979 at the time), supplied the armed forces and the police with weapons while also working as a distributor for Coca Cola, Nigerian Breweries, Cadbury, Guinness and Continental Breweries. He was also a dealer for Peugeot Automobile of France. For him, it was to 'go into anything that gives me profit.'

-With time, his fortune grew so amazingly that he was buoyant enough to sink over $100 million into his own oil prospecting and drilling company, the Consolidated Oil Company. This company, founded in 1990, is the very first indigenous Nigerian company to discover, drill and produce oil. And you know na, we are not talking of palm oil here....lol! Thus, his fortunes are based on a tripod: telecommunications, oil & gas and banking. He is also into real estate, food manufacturing & processing (butter, cocoa cake and vegetable oil), domestic & international market activities and aviation (not many know he is the owner of Southern Airlines).

-Under the General Sani Abacha regime, his Communication Investment Limited (CIL) was given a conditional licence and frequencies to operate. The licence has earlier been given to the Chagouris of Lebanon. Obasanjo would later cancel all the approvals given to him by previous governments. But a relentless fighter that he is, he told his men: “Let’s go into this thing. Let us forget going to court and all that. Let’s go under the new system and fight for the licence. We must fight with everything we have to get the licence.” When he made a second deposit of $20 million for Globacom licence, many scoffed at him and he was told to stop chasing shadows. His brother, Demola says of those dark days: “Mike lost $20 million, but he never lost hope. He never gave up hope. He kept hope alive; that is one thing about my brother: he is an eternal optimist. Something kept propelling him not to give up on the matter. He pursued it and he eventually got the licence.”

-For those who believe he is a proxy for IBB, sorry to burst your bubble. They've been friends since the 1980s and have remained so till date. Here is what the top-of-the-hill-residing, gap-toothed General has to say about the widespread rumour: “We meet, we talk, like the good friends that we are. But I also have one policy that governs my relationship with friends that are very close to me. Whether it was M.K.O Abiola, whether it is Mike Adenuga, and probably five or so others, I don’t get involved in their businesses. You can go and ask them.” The General went ahead to describe Mike Adenuga as a very loyal and reliable friend, and one who never forgets favours, unlike many who abandoned him when he left power in August 1993. He states: “When I left office, a few of my friends honestly stood by me and I remain eternally grateful to them. Mike is one of them. Another man who doesn’t want his name mentioned any time I speak on this issue is one of them. What I like about them is this: they appreciate whatever little effort you did for them and so, they don’t abandon you. Some people will tell you, ‘ah, when I was in the office, a lot of people used to come to me, now I left office, you don’t find anybody.’ This is the Nigerian factor for you. But these characters remain close and I honestly remain grateful.”

-When his mother died, he gave her a most befitting burial in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State on 13th September, 2005. A carnival-like ceremony, it was stormed by former President Obasanjo who buzzed in in a helicopter (that man and effizy sha...lol!) and when he entered the church, no one else was allowed to come in except Titi Atiku Abubakar (wife of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and WOTCLEF Founder). Other guests: Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola. Governors of Lagos, Ogun, Taraba, Bauchi, Niger, Kaduna and Imo also gave a new definition to the Yoruba parlance of olowonshoreolowo (the wealthy always mingle with one another). Even IBB showed up at the wake-keeping. But the Awujale of Ijebuland, who is the Paramount Ruler of Ijebus was not able to attend because it is against the tradition for the Kabiyesi to lay his eyes on a corpse. His staff of office was placed on her hearse. Encased in a casket made of gold, Mama Adenuga was laid to rest in a marble grave.

-He faced a lot of troubles in the hands of fellow Ogun dude and former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. In his efforts aimed at procuring a telecommunications licence, he was thoroughly humiliated by Baba Iyabo (some felt he was being persecuted because of his ally, Atiku Abubakar who was then slugging it out with OBJ). The following scenario occurred in Aso Rock Presidential Villa when Obasanjo still held sway: “Okay, I would show you that I am playing God and kuku (ultimately) destroy you once and for all” said Obasanjo; a threat to which the frightened and weather-beaten Adenuga replied with his knees crawling on the floors in Aso Rock and his palms stretched full length in the charged, steamy atmosphere: “Sir, I am your son. Please don’t be angry with me.” Obasanjo: “I shouldn’t be angry? Why shouldn’t I be angry? See you now. You would come and prostrate and when you leave here, tomorrow, you would go and be publishing your adverts, abusing me. No be so (Is that not true)?” Adenuga lost $20 million (N3.2 billion) when he was denied the license not even after he had donated a multi-million naira library to Obasanjo's Bells University of Technology in Ota. But he didn't give up. He applied again. He would send people to beg OBJ and on occasions, he would prostrate to the Ebora of Owu as a Yorubaman but the former president would stare into his eyes and thunder: 'I would not give you my licence!' He would then mutter some curses. But Adenuga was undettered. He was always full of hope and optimism (that is important, I tell you). At another point, IBB tried to intervene on the issue of Adenuga's licence with Obasanjo. The Commander-in-Chief was enraged, and accused IBB of using Adenuga as a screen to protect his vested interests. IBB denied the allegations and told Obasanjo that the so-called security report on the issue was a figment of the imagination of his EFCC boys. Obasanjo practically ordered IBB out of Aso Rock, and shouted at him as he left '‘Get out, just go!’ '. Still in his yet to be released biography, he talks of how Obasanjo demanded a sum of £ 1 million donation (N250 million) from him for his Presidential Library Project. Adenuga had no choice but to drop a quarter of a billion naira as the Chief Launcher. In the book, the scenario was described thus: “Adenuga had gone to Abeokuta with Dr. Yemi Ogunbuyi for the occasion and the duo had decided to go to greet Baba first. But they were intercepted by a man in a white Kaftan robe who turned out to be Obasanjo’s cousin. The cousin politely said Baba wanted to know how much Adenuga was going to donate. Incidentally, Adenuga had raised this question with Ogunbiyi on their way coming. ‘How much do you think I should donate to this thing?’
‘I don’t really know may be N100 million,’ Ogunbiyi suggested.
‘That’s exactly how much I have in mind,’ declared Adenuga.
“Now the question from Obasanjo’s emissary was curious and unusual, he thought, but nevertheless, he had no choice but to inform the man that he planned to donate N100 million, thinking the man would be very impressed. Wrong. Obasanjo’s cousin brought out a piece of paper and handed it to Adenuga. ‘Sorry sir, but Baba says you can’t donate less than that amount,’ the man had written.
“Inside the piece of paper was the sum of N250 million scribbled in Obasanjo’s handwriting with a red pen. ‘No problem,’ Adenuga told the emissary, wondering if others were subjected to the same experience, but also knowing he dared not ask anybody, lest he be betrayed. He later showed Ogunbiyi the piece of paper. ‘I’ll give anything he wants,’ he told Ogunbiyi. ‘I’m afraid of that man o. N250 million is about the price of an oil well,’ Adenuga added.”

-Never far from the corridors of power, he was arrested in July 2006 by operatives of the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Mobile policemen and security agents numbering about 70 were mobilized to arrest the titanic mogul. In a commando style reminiscent of the US Navy Seals, they stormed his Lagos residence, pulled down his gate with hammers, generators, welding equipment and other heavy machinery, and flew him to Abuja. He was questioned for some hours before he was released, then he visited the Aso Villa. What actually transpired that day, only Chineke knows but he was so traumatized and when reports were coming that he may be rearrested and prosecuted, he left for London and did not come back until a new government was in place. He has had his brushes with the law, and at a time, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) sealed up his oil companies for allegedly evading taxes of about N89 billion. Some believe he, alongside other tycoons are stifling Nigeria's development while some people sharply disagree highlighting his contributions to the economy. What do you think?

-At this juncture, it is worthy of mention that Otunba Adenuga is one of the most heavily-guarded billionaires in Nigeria. Some reports indicate that he is actually the most heavily-guarded. You will never miss his retinue of fierce-looking bodyguards. He has been described as extremely paranoid about his personal security but you will know one reason for this later on. A man who guards his privacy jealously, his Victoria Island office is underground and he was very rarely seen in public until recently. His biographers say of him: “Yes, Mike Adenuga is more of a spirit. A spirit who is hardly seen in public, who hardly grants media interviews, who jealously and zealously guards his privacy, who shuns publicity of any type and who even in the past, paid PR and media consultants full-time to ensure that stories about him and his pictures didn’t appear in the media at all… For Mike Adenuga, elusiveness is the word. He is the “Invisible Man” of fiction turned real. A man who’s always playing hard to get. Now you see him, now you don’t. The fact is you don’t even see him at all…”

Still on his elusiveness, Soyinka narrates his experience, calling him a magician: “I can’t remember when last I saw him or spoke to him. Adenuga has a vanishing habit. He would just disappear.” At a time, there was supposed to be a meeting with the Bull in London but WS never saw him and he left in anger. Soyinka continues: “All I know is that I see Globacom advertisement everywhere. I also know that Adenuga supports sports, especially football. I wish he could do more for the arts. I have sat him down once. I told him: ‘Listen, you have the money and the enthusiasm, but we have the ideas. Let’s sit down and work together and let us do more for the arts. He would agree, but I said, he would then disappear. He has this vanishing habit. My wish for Globacom is that they would do more for the arts. I feel envious about the amount Globacom is committing to sports. I wish I could get his attention sufficiently to do even half for the arts. If Adenuga is reading this, he should stop running away. He should come and sit down with me so that we can do something for the arts.” Otunba later apologized (sweet-mouth..lol) and they made up.

-Stanley Ebochukwu, Editor-in-Chief of BusinessDay (I like that paper die! ) says: Adenuga is somebody one would call an enigma. You can’t see him, if you want to see him. If you call him, he can’t take your calls. But if he wants to see you, he would see you. And if he wants you to see him, you would see him. Most businessmen tend to behave that way, because of the fear of people.

-But if you think that is all about his disappearing acts, listen to what his fellow billionaire and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote has to say about him: “I haven’t seen Mike for a very long time. I don’t have his number. I don’t know where to reach him. Even if you put a gun on my head and you ask me to lead you to Mike, I will never be able to. He is just nowhere to be found. Mike is a mystery to me.” The most surprising thing about this is that both of them have their residences on the same lane in Victoria Island. Amazing!

-The Evil Genius and Nigeria's only military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had this to say about the suave and debonair Ijebu billionaire: 'One thing stands out uniquely about it (Globacom). It is the brain of a Nigerian. He is really trying to make it the leading telecommunication outfit, not only in Nigeria, but also in Africa. Adenuga is a very serious businessman. And he is not a flamboyant who goes to sleep, folds his arms, saying business is doing well. No, he works very hard. I think he is worthy of emulation.' #Gbam! Una don hear am with your ears. Nobel Laureate and also fellow Ogunite (abi how I go call am na...lol!), Wole Akinwande Soyinka also gave his full support: 'He is a young entrepreneur I have come to admire. I like his drive. He sought me out when he was to begin his Globacom business. I thereafter made enquiries about him. I was actually told by somebody whose judgment I respect that Mike Adenuga is somebody with enormous drive and ideas. And he said I should give him as much help as I could. I checked him out and I discovered that he likes challenges. He has the drive to deliver.'
His elder brother, Otunba Demola Adenuga says of him:
“Mike is the star of the family. Not just our family but the whole of Nigeria. I see him as my benefactor. I should not be ashamed to say that. He has helped me in all facets of life.”

-In another piece written by Mike Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe (I say the finest authorities on him), they narrate the words of one of Adenuga's closest associates, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo: “He takes risks and he is ready to stick it to the end. He never gives up. Is there anything he touches that doesn’t turn into gold? He is such a determined person. He is always charging like a bull. When he wakes up in the morning, he thinks about his business and nothing but his business. He is not a socialite. You can never catch him attending parties. He works Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday…He goes on and on like that facing his business.” Reminds me of another billionaire in Nigeria who works for 18 hours a day. Yes, you guessed right.

-Well, just like a raging bull after a doomed matador, he didn't stop his entrepreneurial triumph in the oil industry. In February 1990, he made a bold entry into the banking industry. He floated Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB). And later on, he launched his biggest and most ambitious project ever, Globacom which drastically crashed the rates of phone calls (I still find it very hard to forgive MTN for calling at N60 per minute!).

-His calm mien belies an underlying aggressiveness and relentless determination of a tycoon. He can also be very ruthless with lazy and incompetent workers (if na you too nko?). According to Mohammed Jameel, Glo's Chief Operating Officer (COO): 'Two, three days after joining Globacom, he called me to his office. The first day I met him, he was very quiet. And I didn't want to say anything. I just watched him. Of course, a lot of my colleagues were there. I was very impressed with him. He was planning to launch the brand Globacom. I saw in him a lot of passion. I saw in him a lot of commitment. I saw in him a lot of vision. He wanted the brand to succeed. And the kind of figures he was talking about in terms of subscribers and putting in infrastructure did really surprise me. Jameel continues: 'He is a very successful entrepreneur who can turn any venture into good. He is a very, very aggressive manager. He is a very target-oriented manager. He is a manager who has a huge vision. He always thinks big. If you are hearing him for the first time, you would think this man is just joking. But he is not joking. Whatever he says, he is determined to achieve it. He is very passionate about whatever you do with the business you do for the brand. Even things like branding the street, he gets into the details to get things right. And he doesn't take instant or spontaneous decisions. He has to think it across. He doesn't take decisions on his own. He respects the views of others. (something a lot of people have to learn, especially those with coins and small small change who at the slightest opportunity, insult others who disagree with them. I added that ajasa myself!). He calls all of us and gives us the opportunity to air our own views, share our thoughts, share our ideas. He also makes his own input and we end up coming up with a collective decision. He lends his ears and mind to whatever is being talked about; irrespective of whether it is the COO or the person employed in the customer service.'' #Gbam! Una don hear am again. Shey e ring abi make I redial am? #Lmao!

-He actually saved the National Oil & Chemical Marketing Company (NOLCHEM) from the jaws of death. He bought it and transformed it into what many of us now know as Conoil Nigeria place, one of the most profitable entities in Nigeria. NOLCHEM was the first indigenous petroleum products marketing company, and the current Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi was a Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, he joined in 1979.

-He is divorced from Fola, his first wife and the court awarded him the custody of the children and even the pregnancy Fola was carrying at that time. She was immensely pained by the court's judgment. Today, he is married to the delectable Joyce Titilola Adenuga (nee Adewale) (see pictures on our website). Okay, there is an interesting story here. She had come for a job at Devcom Merchant Bank owned by Otunba when he was enchanted by her natural beauty and endowments. According to Adenuga's early friend, associate and fellow IBB boy, Orji Uzor Kalu, he and Otunba had a slang for heavily-endowed women: 'Burkina Faso', with Burkina standing for the heavy 'fronts' and the 'Faso' for the superloaded 'rears'. #StopRollingYaEyes,AreYouALearner? LOL! Adenuga did not prefer women with Burkina but remained 'Fasoless' (chai! Burkina Faso don suffer...lol! #AFCON). Baba prefers the complete package. Otunba was titillated by Miss Titi, and today, the rest is history.

-The Apesin (He Whom They Gather To Worship) of Ijebuland is father of eight children (see pictures on our website):

1. Ms. Adetutu Oyindamola Emilia (first child & daughter, sociology-graduate, Yoruba-movie addict, former executive board member (Conoil), concierge shopping expert, & Atlanta, Georgia-based fashion retailer. One of her most memorable days was when she met Christian Louboutin, the French luxury shoe and bag designer who autographed her emerald shoes in New York. She was so overjoyed she found it hard to wear them. She loves cooking and a quiet life). Her website http://www.imaginativeusa.com/home.html Her blog: http://imaginativeshopping.blogspot.com/

2. Prince Michael 'Bobo 'Babajide (his first son and executive director, Conoil). Hear him: “I have a lot of respect for my Dad, but I’ve always been very ambitious, I’ve always had my own dreams and aspirations in different ventures. For instance, when I was in the university, I took classes in Filmmaking because I have plans to go into film production in future. But for now, that is not in line with the family business. However, that’s something I want to do later in life as a person. So, in addition to what the old man has been able to put on ground, I also have these goals I want to achieve and I believe that one must give them a try.” On how he manages to combine his dad's and his own private business, he says: “It’s very possible; it can be done. Don’t forget I’m still a director in Conoil; I just want to take some time out to launch the business. When you bring a business and people accept it, all you do is to create more awareness and ensure that it gets to the consumers through adverts and promotional campaigns. Once that is done, you have little work to do. Meanwhile, we can still tie everything into the family business, but this time around, I want to get the business running first.”

3. Tunde 'Paddy'Abolade. A car freak, he is the Group Executive Director, Globacom. He sure cherishes the limelight. While cruising out of Awolowo Boat Club in his black Porsche Carrera, he once gave out a sum of N5,000 to a physically-challenged beggar.

4. Abimbola Beenu,

5. Belinda 'Bella' Olubunmi Ajoke (got married to Jameel Adetokunboh Disu in a fairytale wedding in April 2010. The first time they met, she introduced herself as 'Bunmi Marquis', and did not reveal her identity as Otunba's gal), she is also the Group Executive Director, and one of his buildings, Bella Place on Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island Extension was named after her. He did name a lot of things after her. Once obese (runs in the family), she said she was able to shed the excess fat because of the tenacity she learnt from her dad who used to call her Benbe (chubby). She says he doesn't joke with his exercises, and hits the gym by 1.am everyday, he used to play squash a lot but stopped after an accident. She entered university at the age of 14.

6. Eniola 'EnnyBoy',

7. Folashade 'ShadyGirl',

8. Adeniyi 'NiyiBoy'.
But there is one thing he does not do to his children: over-indulge them. He taught them to be hardworking and trained them to use their brains and not rely on anyone. His daughter, Bella, very much attests to this. And with all his towering wealth, his friends describe him as a shy and humble personality, and would bow down to most people while greeting.

-With Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State Governor, they handled government contracts, did general merchandise and were into arms deals & oil trading. Now you understand Kalu's outbursts against Obasanjo. Connect the dots.

-Adenuga abhors politics but he is willing to support any government of the day. He likes minding his business but over time, he has been hounded by some politicians who feel he could use his enormous wealth to their disadvantage. A classic example has been given above.

-Orji Uzor Kalu (also a Taurus) says of him: “We have been friends from a long time. I became Aliko’s friend right in the early ‘80s when I was a student at the University of Maiduguri. With Mike, our friendship started when he was living close to me on 6A Adeleke Adedoyin Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. This is where all of us came to become friends. Dangote and Mike were not close, but I was close to both of them. I was a kind of bridge between two of them.” Kalu was later rusticated from UNIMAID and had to sell palm oil on the streets of Maiduguri but that is another story for another day. For now, Iyaniwura is focusing on The Bull.

-In December 1982, armed robbers attacked him in his residence and he sustained some bullet wounds. In a confused and tense atmosphere, an argument broke out among the robbers, with Adenuga still groaning on the floor and moaning in the pool of his own blood. A defiant robber said: “Let’s finish the job. We have to finish this job. We must kill him. We must kill him.” Then he pulled the trigger. What happened after is divulged in his biography. That experience left a lasting impact on him.

-He has many nicknames and descriptions. He is called the Bull. The Guru. Another is 'Agbowokariowona' which roughly translates to mean 'the one who piles up money only to distribute without any stress'. Erinfolawolu: The elephant which strides into the town with all majesty and candour. -Agbelesona bi Oyinbo: He who resides at home while spinning wonders like the whites. -Apesinola of Ijebuland. He is also known as Aneye Toto (Fine Boy), a nickname that was known only to his closes friends and relatives until KSA released the song in his honour. That reminds

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
Has won numerous awards globally..
Adenuga Won The Telecom Investor Of The Decade Awards in 2014 not long ago

RUMORS AND SCANDALS
He was rumored to be involved in Oil Bunkering Scandals in 2012
Adenuga and wife were said to be involved in a fraud scandals with Siemens in 2010 which lead to issues with EFCC.
Adenuga with president receiving national Honours award
Adenuga with the super eagles

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Daniel grew up pretty much in Ogun State but travel around nigeria and Diaspora during school breaks . His parents are from Ogun states. He attended Ogun international montessori nursery and primary school, Abeokuta grammar school and the Federal university of agriculture, Abeokuta, where he graduated in 2013, as a water engineer. Says his growing up was fun but the same time his parents paid huge attentions to education so he grew up reading a lot and accomplishing Task in the house everyday. He really appreciate his parents for opening his eyes to educational value and accommodate several personalities.

He has been doing music and writing songs since he was 11years old. Though He started writing songs about food, and it is not that he really do like food but he love junk foods, He does not eat that much, but ice cream is his thing. It started with food at first, and gradually developing his skills, and all thanks goes to his dad because he has helped him a lot, he met singer JABLESS in 2009, and he actually helped him manage his talent, so he started writing commercial songs.

According to him everybody in his family appreciate his music career, they wanted him to do something that he likes, and that is really being supportive and encouraging; when he was in school he stayed focus, and they were well relaxed like they trust him that you can’t disappoint. His parent believe "Even if he’s doing any other thing, that school oh! e no dey mess with am" when he was in school he had a very good result, which he finished with 2.1, not just that but a strong one rumors has it he had 4.2.

He got the name when he was in school. He has a dimple in his cheek and in school, when you had dimples in both cheeks, you were called ‘Kisses’. Since he only have just one, He was called ‘Kiss.’ Because there were other Daniels in school, the ladies added Kiss to his first name to tell him apart from the others. So, when he started music he decided to stick with the name.

When asked in an interview: What are the challenges he has encountered in his musical career so far? he replied:
"I have only one challenge encountered, which is patience. While coming-up I had no financial assistance somewhere, but it came one day due to my hard work, things I have done in the past. For me as an artiste, it is just patience for my time to come, like you know as well, a lot of top artistes we have today in Nigeria like Olamide started from nowhere, but you can see what he is today. Sometimes it is not even about money or connection, when your time come you go definitely blow; so the only challenge is just patience, for every man will definitely succeed just like our Father in Heaven, so that one is sure."

CAREER AND LIFE
His career started professionally last year, when he got signed to G-Worldwide Entertainment.
‘SHOYE’ was actually his first song which he dropped on 1st of May 2014, and then he dropped WOJU 1st of September 2014.

As of 2015 he thinks he is the baby of the industry. Believes everybody is pampering him for now, he is getting so much love from everybody; pays he respects to Olamide Badoo,2Face Idibia,Sean Tizzle,Cynthia Morgan,Runtown,Davido, Tiwa Savage as they've showed him so much love and assistance. Believes everyone is just showing him love, and it is really weird though because he actually came-out from nowhere, but in short he love everybody and he really do hope to work with everyone.
Basically, he wants to be known for Afro-centric music, anything Africa, Afrohip-hop, Afro R&B, he just wants to put a little bit of Afro in his music.

After dropping his blast single "WOJU" late 2014, the singer had the publicity of his life as the song topped many Nigerian charts for months even on Itunes. The song is arguably said to be the Anthem of the Year.
After remixing the song Woju featuring stars in the industry Davido and Tiwa savage, the song became a huger blast in the industry.

SEE WHAT HE REPLIED WHEN ASKED "Should we be expecting any album from him soon?"

Yeah when the demand is high, when you guys want me to drop my album I will definitely drop it. I have my songs already, my people out there when they are ready for me I will definitely do. You know as an artiste when the pressure is on you like we need you to drop an album, when you see it on your social media platform like your Instagram, Facebook, people keep being on that same thing including the media; that is when you think is the right time for you to drop the album, I can’t just drop an album when I’m not that deep in the industry, people will just be like ‘what is he doing? Because you blow with one song you want to start making noise’. So I’m trying to do more impressive work for my people not to regret buying my album.
He's planned to go on many international tours in 2015 starting from U.K.

The singer claims a large level of investment has driven into the brand kiss daniel , in terms of content making and development. off course looking good is good business.
Logistics and plugins plus several others so return on investment is their primary objective at G worldwide entertainment. The accounts department can declare the state of Kiss daniels making money or not . but they are getting bookings from Africa and the Diaspora. But we will never Fake it , We are Real people He says.

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
Well, the singer currently has numerous nominations has of the moment but no popular award won yet.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND
Maleek Berry is a Nigerian Music Producer Born in the heart of South London. He is one of the current UK’s rising producers.

He grew up listening to some of the biggest names in R&B from Tevin Campbell, Boyz II Men, Jodeci and of course the one and only King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Berry started off his career in the church, forming a group with two close friends. Managing to get his hands on a little pre-production setup – Fruity Loops – the group began writing, producing and performing their own songs at the ages of 14 and 15, only to disband at 16. However, the experience didn’t leave Berry disillusioned, as he was the brains behind a lot of the group’s records and they all remain very close till this day.

CAREER AND LIFE
Fast Forward to 2009, Berry spent years working on his craft in between formal education – attaining a Bachelors degree in Computer Science – learning to play the piano by ear, which has played a major part in the maturity of his sound. Even with this big achievement he knew deep down what his true calling was – music.

Upon meeting IKES, a rapper hailing from North London the two just clicked and began working on records together and would soon become Berry’s long term partner in his musical career. Since then he’s gone on to produce records for some of the hottest UK acts such as S.A.S, Bigz, Scorcher, Jermaine Riley (Formally of FDM) and the list continues to grow as we speak.
Being the creative soul that he is, Maleek Berry wasn’t satisfied with only working on his home turf, but wanted to spread his wings to the Motherland. In the summer of 2011 he flew out to Nigeria for a family holiday, but managed to take advantage of this trip and make great connections that would later change his status to an international producer. Through good friend and artist Davido, Berry was able to spark relationships with artistes such as Wizkid (Recently signed to AKON’s Konvict Music), Sauce Kid, Wande Coal – of which he is currently working on records for.

He also went on the produce the hit ‘Carolina’ (one of the biggest singles in Nigeria) by Sauce Kid featuring Davido, which ushered Sauce Kid back into the Nigerian music scene after a brief hiatus.
Even with all his achievements to date, who knows what the future holds for this young producer. In his own words he plans to, “Create timeless music that will hopefully last longer than his generation.

His most popular songs produced by him are:

Carolina by Saucekid which featured Davido he produced about three tracks on Davido’s Album, then his own project “Matter” which featured Wizkid, My Way by Wande Coal and Lagos to Soweto by Wizkid.
In 2013 he got signed to STAR BOY ENT. A record label owned by Star singer Wizkid.

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
The producer hasn't gotten any public award nor endorsement deal as of now may be in nearest feature because he really is a talented one.

Ice Prince was born Panshak Henri Zamani in the city of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. At age two, he moved with his family to the mining city of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. While residing in Jos, he attended St. Murumba College. He also attended the Science Tutorial College in Jos.

In 1998, he began writing rap songs and started performing them at social events held at his school. It was not until 2001 that he began going to studios to record. In 2002, he got together with a couple of friends and formed a group called the "Ecomog Squad". They had few performances as a group and split a year later.

In 2004, he connected with M.I, Jesse Jagz, Ruby, Lindsey, Eve, Taz, and together they became what is now known today as the "Loopy Crew". During an interview with Adeola Adeyemo, Ice Prince was asked to summarise his story. He said "I started out in Jos in a group called ECOMOG squad. We used to rap and sing together. The group split up after a few years and after that, I joined the choir in my church and started singing Tenor. That was about the time MI moved back to Nigeria and we became friends, we became family, we started living together, started making music together. I had a song that made it to Number 1 in Jos, that was when I started getting more attention. Then I got admitted into University of Jos to study Zoology but then I couldn't really continue because of some financial constraint at the time." Ice Prince also opened up about the passing of his parents and the challenges he faced early on. He said:"Life was not that rosy. When my dad was alive, life was pretty much rosy but I lost my Dad in 1999 and it was my Mum that was taking care of me up until she died too. So it was kinda hard to get by, really. I dropped out of school in my 100Level to focus on my music.I moved to Abuja and started living with MI and Jesse Jagz. We were making music, doing some small small shows just to get money. Then we moved to Lagos, we got a chance to chill at Djinee’s house. Djinee gave us some space in his house to sleep. Djinee is like my Jesus. He came through for us. We lived in his house and made it very uncomfortable for him but he took all the pain and accommodated us. This was in 2008. Gradually, there was steady growth. We got our own place, started making music. In 2008, I hosted Sprite Triple Slam. We did 30 shows, 15 in Lagos, 15 in the East. I got some small money off that to buy some new jeans and shoes so that girls would, you know, say hi to me when they see me."(wikipedia)

CAREER AND LIFE

In 2004, Ice Prince released his debut single "Extraordinary". "Rewind", another single he released, received radio airplay in Lagos and Abuja. It charted on Rhythm Fm's "Top 7 chart", Notjustok's "Hype", Unilag FM, Zain Central Station, Inspiration Fm, Top FM’s "Top of the Morning", Cosmo FM's "Top Hits", Africa Connect Chat Show, and Kiss' "Top 20 Africa". Moreover, it charted at number 1 on Cool FM and Vision FM in Abuja.

During the aforementioned interview, Ice Prince shed some light on his record deal with Chocolate City, saying: "My record deal with Chocolate City came off of my affiliation with MI and Jesse Jagz. We are pretty much brothers, we’ve always lived together, always been together. But then Chocolate City signed MI first. It was like they did it in order of our age. Then they signed Jesse Jagz. Jesse was obviously more ready than I was at that time. Then they saw that I was getting ready as well and they signed me too.

In 2009, Ice Prince participated in the Hennessy Artistry competition, a competition organised by the Hennessy brand which supports urban and contemporary music. The competition featured the likes of Bez, Mo'cheddah, Blaise, and Jimmy Flames; Ice Prince came out 1st with his lead single "Badman" at the end of the competition

During the aforementioned interview, Ice Prince opened up about why he chose to name his debut album, Everybody Loves Ice Prince. He said "What made me give my album that name was when I lost my Mum, really. There was so much love, so much care from all around the world. People really showed me love and it was after that incident that I came back to record my album and I thought what better name to call my album than Everybody Loves Ice Prince because I was shown love. "Oleku", Ice Prince's first single off his debut album was met with great reception throughout Nigeria. The song was released under Chocolate City. Ice Prince's 'rap resume' has a long list of songs he's been featured on. He was featured on Taikoon's "Respect My Hustle" with Banky W, DJ Neptune's "This Gbedu Reloaded" with YQ & Shank,[10] Bez's "Super Sun (Remix)" with ELDee & Eva Alordiah, YQ's "Efimile (Remix)" with Naeto C, M.I, Banky W, & ELDee, Pherowshuz's "Korrect (remix)" with M.I & Terry Tha Rapman, Dekunle Fuji's "Funmilayo" with Jesse Jagz, Jamix's "My Party" with Wizkid & Kel, Reminisce's "2 Mussh [Remix]" with Sauce Kid, and Knighthouse's "Make it Better" with Mo'Cheddah, Funbi, & Mobie, among others.

In 2012, he began frequent collaborations with Grip Boiz City producer Chopstix, releasing "Aboki" in the summer of 2012. An accompanying music video was released alongside it. "Aboki" peaked at number 92 on Afribiz's Top 100 chart.

On 28 August 2012, Ice Prince released "More", the second single from off the album. The song was also produced by Chopstix. The music video for "More" was shot and directed in London by Moe Musa. It stars Lola Rae, a British Nigerian recording artist known for her single, "Watch My Ting Go". The video premiered at the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards, an awards ceremony he co-hosted.

On 25 January 2013, Ice Prince released "Aboki (Remix)", a song he describes as the "biggest African collision ever". The song features Sarkodie, Mercy Johnson, Wizkid, M.I, and Khuli Chana.

On 24 April 2013, Ice Prince and Chocolate City released "Gimme Dat" and "V.I.P" simultaneously. The former made the album's final track-listing while the latter didn't. He also won one of the most prestigious music awards "BET" for best international act in 2013..

Ice Prince cited Notorious B.I.G., Rakim, Jay-Z, Common, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Lauryn Hill, M.I and Jesse Jagz as his key musical influences. Commenting on his relationship with label mate M.I, Ice Prince said: "He is my brother, he is my friend, my mentor. He is someone that if 200 people tell me no and MI tells me yes, I would do the yes. That is how loyal I am to him, that is how I respect him, how much I look up to him. He never gives me bad advice, he wishes me well and he’s always happy when I succeed.(wikipedia)

Ice Prince has a son named Jamal with Bimbo Babatunde. In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, the rapper said he dated Eva Alordiah when he first relocated to Lagos.
Ice prince do show and flaunt pictures with his cute young son on social media his name: Jamal
In 2015 Singer announced his new found lover whose name is Maima from ghana, his pretty girlfriend who is already a mother of one.

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards Best Rap Act of the Year
Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA) Best Hip Hop Video "V.I.P"
Nigeria Entertainment Awards Best Rap Act of the Year Won
BET Awards 2013
The Headies 2012 Album of the Year Everybody Loves Ice Prince
Ghana Music Awards African Artist of the Year Won
2011 Best Rap Single "Oleku"
(featuring Brymo) Won
Song of the Year Won
Best Collabo
AND MORE...
ENDORSEMENTS

Signed an Endorsement Deal With Hotel Booking Site – Jovago in 2014
Also signed a multi million naira endorsement deal with telecom company Etisalat in 2013

RUMORS AND CONTROVERSIES
He was said to have ABANDONED MOTHER&CHILD** AND ALSO THE BABYMAMA WAS JESSE JAGZ's GIRLFRIEND but thenet.ng later revealed he never abandoned them..
He was rumored to have made a bid of 1million dollars from telecom company GLOBACOMNG after he refused the original deal offered him but he later came out and debunked it.

Mr. Edwards was born into a family of seven. His birth name is Frank Ugochukwu Edwards. He was born in Enugu state of Nigeria. He is from Enugu state, Today July 22 is Frank Edwards birthday, Richboy as he's famously known has been a blessing to the Christian world as well as many others. Franklin portrayed interest in music right from childhood, as at an early age of 7, he played the piano at home. Through the year, he grew through the ranks, perfecting his finger skills and now he plays on one of the world’s largest stages.
Franklin Edwards is a dedicated member of believers loveworld inc. A.k.a. Christ embassy where he is the paintist to the great minister of the gospel pastor chris oyakhilome phd. On loveworld records, this great artist was raised, tutored, and mentored by pastor chris oyakhilome phd, whom he holds in exceeding great esteem.

He beleives Pastor Chris actually inspired him to do what he is doing today. He never dreamt of Singing. He always wanted to be a pilot. He just found himself doing music because his pastor sings as well. He had earlier worked with other Gospel artist like Buchi, Sinach, and Samsong in production.

See what he said when he was asked how he got the luck of making it through Christ Embassy.

"It is grace, because, before my first album came out, I never stood in front of two people to sing not to talk of the whole church, I never held the microphone in the church to lead the choir in the choir rehearsal not to talk of Sunday service, not even Wednesday service, nobody gave me that opportunity, but I was working underground, just recording my songs and when I was recording these songs I was not recording it for album, I was just trying out some of this things I suggested to people and they rejected so I was just trying them out myself, I didn’t plan to make an album, but you know how it is, people hear one song, it is nice, record another one and I did, before you know it the songs that I recorded got to pastor Chris table, I did not even know about it, we were having a global service it was December 31st night and I was there as a keyboardist sitting down when Pastor Chris came out preaching then he walked towards me and whispered to me that your song that I heard are you ready to sing it now, my heart just flew because I had never held a microphone in the church before and here I am, being asked to sing to the whole world, I just started sweating immediately, I didn’t know when I nodded my head to say yes, I think my head moved on its own, then he asked if the sound department had my soundtrack and I said I don’t know, he sent someone to go and ask, and I was just hoping that they should say they don’t have it and the guy came back that they have it and that was it! he gave me the microphone, the first time anybody will be giving me microphone to sing was in front of the whole world and it is not that I had started going for programs then I was still in the studio just doing my thing, so I held the microphone, I just started singing, I didn’t know what took over me, I watched the video after the program, people lifted their hands up, people were on the floor even pastor was singing it word for word which means he has been listening to it, from that night in fact, my facebook page was jammed and the story has not been the same, so that was actually my turning point."

CAREER AND LIFE

His debut album The Definition was released in 2008. It was 14 track album and was distributed by Honesty Music. Angels on the Runway his second album was released in 2010 and another one Unlimited in 2011.
He rose to fame by Divine Intervention or should I say he was in the right place at the right time doing the right thing as expected of him. Today he has numerous hit songs that have continued to enjoy massive airplay in churches and beyond Nigeria shore. Some of his songs includes, You too dey bless me o, Omema o, Mma Mma, Welcome to Zion and much more. He is a role model and inspiration to the youths.

Producing his songs under his world class Record Label, christened "ROCKTOWN", the young multi-talented artist and motivational speaker has been celebrated for revolutionalizing Nigerian Gospel Music, introducing a new and exiting twist, with his new blend of rock, fused with a little pop and fuji.

His debut album The Definition was released in 2008. It was a 14-track album and was distributed by Honesty Music.[2] Angels on the Runway his second album was released in 2010 and another, Unlimited, in 2011. Tagjam, was released in November 2011. He is currently known as Nigeria's Hottest Gospel rock artiste Now in Nigeria. In 2013 he released he appeared in the live performance of Sinach's "I know who I am" video. Besides being an artist with many songs in all musical genre, He is also a genius producer, master mixer. As a result, Rock Town Records, which he owns, has a generation of up coming talent with names like GIL, Divyn, David and many others.

His 3rd and 4th album are all critically acclaimed success. It is an impressive work that will stand the times. It has been widely sold across Nigeria and beyond and is still selling out fast in stores. The follow up concert video has also been raking up sales eversince its release.
He is also credited with various nominations including The NEA Awards 2009, and also The Nigerian Gospel Awards 2012, where he merited six different nominations. In the aftermath of over seven years of making global impact with soul lifting, earth shaking gospel music, the best of Frank Edwards is still to come.
Nigerian born music minister was the winner of the Nigerian Gospel Awards (Rock Artist Of The Year) 2010, he also had a graceful outing at the African Gospel Awards 2012, where he won the Best Gospel Artist West Africa Award. Recently also, he bagged the Loveworld Awards $10,000 worth Hit Song Of The Year 2012, with one of his hit songs "Superstar No.1".
He has also been performing within and outside Nigeria ever since the work was put out.

The singer is said to have a collabo with gospel music legend Don Moen in year 2015.

Frank was said to have been engaged to a young lady in 2012 which as at then her age was 19, her name is Chisom who was reportedly said to be schooling in the States. After the news broke up online Frank got a a few critics for getting engaged to a girl of 19.
The singer has also been linked with Sharon Oyakhilome pastor chris's daughter in recent times, its been said by many that they are dating

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS
Frank is an artist who has won a lot of popular and unpopular awards.
He won the award of the best Gospel Rock artiste in the first annual awards.
He also won west Africa best male vocalist in 2012/ best hit single at the love world awards 2012/ and 3 awards at the Nigeria gospel music awards (male artiste of the year,song of the year and best male vocal)

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Dangote hails from Kano State, Nigeria, to Muslim parents, Mariya Sanusi Dantata and Mohammed Dangote. Aliko is a Business Studies graduate from Al-Azahar University, Cairo, Egypt. He is the owner and president of the Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia. A wealthy supporter of erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo and the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). With an estimated current net worth of around US$ 13.8 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as one of the richest Nigerian citizens and richest person of African descent in the world toppling Mohammed Al Amoudi ($12.3 billion) and Oprah Winfrey ($2.7 billion.)

Aliko Dangote first ventured into business in 1977 at the age of 21 years. He started with a small capital given to him by his grandfather, Alhaji Sanusi Dantata. He was involved in trading in local commodities and building materials. Around June 1977, he moved into Lagos and continued trade in cement and commodities.
Aliko Dangote's business started to experience tremendous success and increase. This encouraged him to incorporate two companies in 1981. These and more companies to follow have developed into the Dangote Group.
With a small token from his grandfather and a latter loan he took from same, he started a business. Now, he is the richest man in Africa, with net worth of $16.1 billion, as of March 2013, in Forbes’ estimates.
Explaining, Dangote said “for me, I started small as a trader in cement. Then I left cement around 1978. Because there was this armada and cement was difficult to get at that time. I had my own money which my grandfather gave me free, but then he gave me also an additional loan of N500, 000 (about $3,000) which was big money in those days. The money was quite a substantial amount then. The loan was supposed to be paid back whenever I was okay-maybe after three or four years. But I paid the loan back within six months.”

At the time, Dangote was given the N500, 000 loan in 1978, which he could have easily used to chase cars, houses and whatever caught his fancy. Back then, a Mercedes Benz car was sold for N5,000 while a Volkswagen Beetle went for N900 to N1,000. But he didn’t do any of those, instead he invested the money and he was able to pay back the loan in six months, as against the originally thought three or four years.

CAREER AND LIFE

Dangote Group has its headquarters in the bursting metropolis of Lagos State, Nigeria in West Africa. The Group has earned an honest reputation for quality goods and services, cost leadership and efficiency of human resources.

The Group is a very diverse conglomerate with very good revenue. Dangote Textiles and The Nigeria Textile Mills, which it recently acquired, produce over 120 000 meters of finished textiles on a daily basis. The Group has a ginnery in Kankawa, Katsina Statewith a capacity of 30 000 MT of seeded cotton annually.
The sugar refinery at Apapa port, Lagos is the largest in Africa and in size the third largest worldwide with an annual capacity of 700,000 tonnes of refined sugar annually. It also has another 100,000 tonne-capacity sugar mill at Hadeja in Jigawa State.

Besides having significant investment in the National Salt Company of Nigeria at Ota, Ogun State, the group has salt factories at Apapa as well as Calabar, a polypropylene bagging factory which produces essential bags for its products, over 600 trailers for effective distribution network and goods meant for export can also successfully be transported to the respective ports.

A vehicle leasing unit with over 100 fully air-conditioned commuter buses, is also part of the Dangote Group. It is also into real estate with luxury flats and high rise complexes in Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Abuja and Kano. Dangote Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the group where yearly he spends millions for worthy causes such as contributions to educational and healthcare institutions, sinking of boreholes and giving of scholarships.
The Dangote Group has nationwide staff strength of 12,000 but on completion of on-going projects, it is expected to hit 22,000. Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s business success may be influenced by various factors. He seems to be broad-minded. Unlike some people, his Personal Assistant is Yoruba while his Head of Corporate Affairs is a Christian from Delta State.

In this encounter, Dangote talks about his driving force in business, the factors that have kept him above his contemporaries in business, his $800 million cement factory at Obajana, Kogi State and the N14 million mega company, which he and some industrialists have set up. Perhaps above all, his patriotic stance is commendable: “If you give me today $5 billion, I will not invest any abroad, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put heads together and work.”

As a self-employed person, with minimum basic education, he proves that business success is usually through strength of mind, honesty and perseverance; and not necessarily by obtaining Harvard-Oxford certificates or First-Class academic qualification. His managerial skills surely are the envy of economic professors.

Instead of stashing his funds in foreign accounts, a typical feature of fraudulent front and public office looters, Dangote invests wisely in the productive sector of the Nigerian economy.To deny that Dangote doesn’t have monopoly over a few of the commodities in the Nigerian market is to deny the obvious.
Recently, Aliko and other notable Nigerians announced their intention to float a private sector mega company with the name Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (TCN), which amongst other things may acquire government-owned refinery, operate strategic state-owned coys and pioneer status in Agriculture & Information Technology.

In recognition of Aliko Dangote ’s contributions to the growth of the Nigerian economy and his philanthropy, he has been conferred with several awards including the prestigious ZIK Award for professional leadership (1992), the International Award of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Cross River State Roll of Honour Award (2002) and the Thisday Newspapers Award for Chief Executive Officer of the Year (2005). He was conferred with the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 2000 and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2005.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote serves on the Boards of the National Council of Nigerian Vision, Mohammed Bello Endowment for Justice and Jurisprudence, Kano Foundation, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, African Petroleum Plc, National Investment Promotion Council and the Heart of Africa (a management group on Nigeria Image Project), etc.

Dangote played a prominent role in the funding of Obasanjo’s re-election campaign in 2003, to which he contributed over N200 million (US$2M). He gave N50 million (US$0.5M) to the National Mosque under the aegis of "Friends of Obasanjo and Atiku", and contributed N200 million to the Presidential Library. These controversial gifts to members of the ruling People's Democratic Party have contributed to concerns over continued graft despite highly-publicized anti-corruption drives during Obasanjo's second term.
On 23 May 2010, England's Daily Mirror newspaper reported that Dangote was interested in buying a 16 percent stake in Premiership side Arsenal belonging to Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Dangote later denied these rumours.

On 14 November 2011, Dangote was awarded Nigeria's second highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) by the President, Goodluck Jonathan.
Dangote reportedly added $9.2 billion to his personal wealth in 2013, according to the Bloomberg Index, now making him the 30th richest person in the world, in addition to being the richest person in Africa.
In 2014, the Nigerian government said Dangote had donated 150 million Naira (US$1 million) to halt the spread of ebola.

AWARDS AND ENDORSEMENTS

Dangote was named as the Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2014. The other nominees for the award were South Africa’s Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), Arunma Oteh, and President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka

RUMORS AND CONTROVERSIES
He once was accused of bribery by the Zambian president in 2014

T.I.N Magazine has taken time to rate and list Nigeria's most influential internet entrepreneurs as of 2015. The countdown list you will be seeing below comprises ten Nigerians who has made good and huge influence with their works online, how they've helped our internet world and how they've helped Nigerians. SEE LIST BELOW

10] OVIE . O

FOUNDER/CO-OWNER NOTJUSTOK.COM

NotjustOk.com is the #1 Nigerian Music site on the internet founded by Ovie . O, The site was created initially out of the intention, motivation and passion to share remarkable material to
whoever cared to listen or read. However in 2007, Ovie began noticing that music from Nigeria was sounding catchy to his ears and he felt like the quality was good
enough to share.

Notjustok.com has been a remarkable digital media platform for Nigeria’s emerging music acts as well as the labels that represent them. Indeed, over the past years, in particular, the Notjustok.com (NJO) brand value and online real estate brand equity has risen drastically commanding the attention of Nigeria’s music industry executives and key
players as well as the public.

Now music in Nigeria can be easily heard abroad which actually has promoted the Nigeria music industry and even there have been many other music sites like Notjustok since the launching of the site.
Therefore Ovie's Notjustok impact on Music in Nigeria wouldn't go unrecognized.
And the site is currently co-owned by Ovie .O and Demola Ogundele.

9]Uche Pedro

FOUNDER/CEO BellaNaija.com

Uche started BellaNaija at a very tender age of 25 and she has been able to achieve great things with her incredible leadership and commitment.
BellaNaija.com is Nigeria’s premier lifestyle, entertainment and fashion website, and garners an average of 10 million page views every month. Uche was featured on Oprah Winfrey show, Beauty Around the World, in February 2010 and was interviewed by Isha Sesay for CNN i-list in September, 2010. Winner of the International Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2013 and she has most recently been named as one of the ’30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs In Africa in 2014′ by Forbes.
Her website blog's impact in Nigeria's online industry is quite a reputable since its launch. the blog which was one of the things that inspired another great blogger Linda Ikeji and others. The website is said by many people that it is visited by lots of matured minds which also is said to be a site with quality contents.
It is also obvious she has workers employed by her to work on the site which actually has contributed to unemployment in the nation.

8]Jide Ogunsanya

FOUNDER/C.E.O OGBONGEBLOG.COM

Jide is the founder and owner of one of the first tech blogs in Nigeria ogbongeblog.com, the website which is quite known by many for its tech,business,social media services can be said to be best tech blog in Nigeria following the reputation it has garnered in the past years.
He started the blog in 2008 to share his knowledge online especially as regards to solving tech-related issues and also to make legal money online. The moment he started making money from the blog, he started sharing with his blog readers, how they can also make money from the internet especially via blogging.

Jide's blog has helped so many bloggers and other internet entrepreneurs a lot with good and explanatory tutorials.
Well, he has won so many awards and also nominated for many.

7]Oluwaseun Osewa

FOUNDER/CEO NAIRALAND.COM

Seun is the founder of the popular online forum "Nairaland" majorly for Nigerians. The site which was launched in 2005 was the most visited website in Nigeria and Africa as a whole for so many years until 2015 when its position was overtaken by jumia and konga.
Nairaland currently has over 1,300,000 registered accounts (March 2015), and is currently ranked as the 9th most visited site in Nigeria (and the most visited indigenous site) according to Alexa.com. Nigeria reportedly has over 55 million Internet users, corresponding to 32.9% of the entire population.
The forum has helped many Nigerians a lot since its launching as many interesting topics and discussions are always made there. Nairaland has had a huge contribution to employments in Nigeria has also helped many business men and women, the forum is also known to be where most Nigerians voice out online. And also Nairaland is one of the oldest and still existing sites in the country.
Seun has been nominated for many awards and also made Forbes list in 2013.

6] Jason Njoku

FOUNDER/CEO IROKOTV.COM

Jason is a Nigerian millionaire and Internet entrepreneur founder of the popular home videos platform IROKOTV, made history in 2012 when he completed what was possibly the largest fundraising round in the West African tech world. The founder and CEO of iROKO Partners, the largest digital distributor of Nigerian movies and African music, raised $8 million from New York-based Tiger Global Management. IROKO Partners is the holding company behind the successful iRokoTV, NollywoodLove, and Njoku’s latest venture, African music streaming service iROKING.
Now, Njoku and partner Bastian Gotter have launched SPARK, a $1 million-backed company to support and develop aspiring Nigerian tech and Internet entrepreneurs. Based in Lagos, SPARK builds companies in Africa’s Internet sector.
He was listed by Forbes for ‘Ten Young African Millionaires To Watch’ in 2012.

5] Opeyemi Awoyemi,
Ayodeji Adewunmi and Olalekan Olude

FOUNDERS/OWNERS JOBBERMAN.COM

Jobberman.com is an employment website in Nigeria that started on 16 August 2009 at the Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. It is based in Lagos, Nigeria. Jobberman.com has been described by Forbes as "West Africa’s most popular job search engine and aggregator"
Jobberman.com was co-founded by Opeyemi Awoyemi, Ayodeji Adewunmi and Olalekan Olude; all university students at the time the company was founded. They shared the same interest in the Internet space and started Jobberman from the Obafemi Awolowo University campus during the Industrial Strike Action by Nigerian Academic Staff Union (ASUU) of August 2009.

In February 2012, Jobberman got named as #8 in Forbes Magazine Top 20 Tech Startups in Africa and got featured in the recently released McKinsey Internet Report on Aspiring Countries as one of the Innovative Companies in Nigeria.
Jobberman.com has offices in Lagos, Abuja and Ghana. As of January 22, 2015 Jobberman is accessible on mobile phones in Ghana, via the Internet.org Android app
The popular website's influence has been really really great in the country.

4] Akin Alabi

FOUNDER/CEO NAIRABET.COM

Popularly known as Otunba, Akin Alabi has personally
mentored at least 10 Nigerians that now make well over
three million Naira on the internet every year. He owns
Nairabet which is widely known as the first and the No. 1 sports betting organization in Nigeria and one of the best in the world.
He also has a personal website, akinalabi.com where he gives out cash prizes almost every week. Akin started from a very humble beginning and with great determination and hard work, made his way to the top. He started his journey as an internet entrepreneur selling information products.
Otunba has been interviewed severally on popular TV stations and blogs. He was recently interviewed on CNBC .

Since the start of the betting site Tens of sites like Nairabet has been introduced to the Nigeria betting world which is one of the trending things in the country presently.

3]Sim Shagaya

FOUNDER/CEO KONGA.COM

Konga was founded in July 2012 by Sim Shagaya, with
20 staff. Shortly after launching in 2012, Konga raised
a $3.5 million seed round from Investment AB Kinnevik .
The site initially functioned as a Lagos-only online retailer focused on merchandise in the Baby, Beauty, and Personal Care categories, but broadened its scope to all of Nigeria in December 2012 and gradually expanded merchandise categories through 2012 and 2013.

In January 2015, Konga was ranked as the most visited Nigerian website by Alexa Internet. According to Sim Shagaya, Konga "leads the field in Nigeria today [early 2015] in Gross Merchandise Value," a metric measuring the total value of merchandise sold particular marketplace.
After the launch of the popular platform other rivals started theirs too in which there are too many of them as of 2015.

The platform also has over 700 staffs in the country presently and providing online jobs for thousands of partners online with their affiliate program.

2]Henry Okpolokpo

FOUNDER/CEO IREPORTERSTV.CO

Mr Henry O the founder of iReportersTv, which is the largest platform in the world for African Videos, the video platform launched back in 2012 is now known to be one of the top source of income for bloggers and other internet users in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
The website is said to have hundreds of thousands of users presently, the platform which is meant for uploading videos and sharing them to earn money also has tens of thousand active producers and promoters.

The platform is said to be spending close to 10million naira monthly to pay it's partners, as it was said that there are partners who earn as much as 2million naira monthly from the popular video platform.
The platform which claimed they have provided job for up to 10,000 Nigerians as at 2013 could be said to have make a huge influence in the country's internet world.
The video platform also has few celebrity producers with their channel on the platform, likes of Teju baby face, At comedian and others.

Though the platform has few critics in the media for fake and sexual videos uploaded by the producers which has quite affected the platform a bit, it's impact would still be notice. The recent info we got on the platform is that the platform would be rebranded into a new and a better video platform with a new name.

1] LINDA IKEJI

FOUNDER/CEO LINDA IKEJI'S BLOG

Linda Ikeji started blogging fully in 2007 to share things that she was interested in with her readers. Five years later, lindaikeji"s blog has grown to be one of the most visited sites in the country. As a regular source for news, entertainment, celebrity gist, gossip and many more, her blog continues to attract thousands of visitors.
Linda Ikeji has earned herself the title ‘Queen of Blogging’ .
Linda was persistent , focused on what she did even though there was no financial return but five years later it has yielded great profit , a talk of all. She found a new path ,Blogging . But she persisted until 2010, when some of the stories posted on her blog began to ruffle feathers. At a point, Linda averaged about 1 million unique visitors each month to her blog. And with that came the much-needed recognition and substantial earnings. In August 2012, Forbes Africa described her as a success and a case study for the business of blogging.

Linda Ikeji has been concluded to be the most influential online entrepreneur in Nigeria by TMTN for the impacts her blog and herself has made in the recent years, Her blog is now one of the most trusted sources when it comes to information in Nigeria, even news papers and presenters refer to her blog and most bloggers like her get informations from her blog.

Linda Ikeji has also proven herself to be a good philanthropist has she often give back to the readers on her blog it's been noticed Linda Ikeji spends millions of Naira making giveaways on her blog every year in which we think contributes to the lives of others positively.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS NOT AN OPINION LIST, BUT A LIST THAT WAS PROPERLY RATED BY T.I.N
PS: THIS NOT AN ALL TIME RATING, ITS FOR YEAR 2015, LIST MAY BE DIFFERENT NEXT YEAR.